Saturday, May 11, 2013

Black_Tag@Infosys

I looked across the empty room for the
last time. All things had been packed and sent out in the luggage cart. There
remained only a small shoulder bag and a purse on the table. I picked them up
and turned towards the TV. I had been watching tangled on Star Movies to pass the time. I switched it off. I
didn’t know what else to do. All of a sudden I didn’t want to move. I wanted my
room and luggage back. This all was so not fair. How would you feel when you
start liking a place you live in and suddenly, a time comes when you have to move away to a
new place, leaving all your friends and memories behind?

The door bell ranged bringing me back
to my real world. I jumped at the loud sound it made in the empty room and
quickly opened the door. There she was! And what’s more, she had a sweet smile
on her face today. Wow, I couldn’t believe that on my last day I would be
seeing her too. Any other day when she would come, either I would be sleeping
or watching TV. That would be mostly on weekends and I would get slightly
irritated. But today she was more than welcome. It was the last time I would be
meeting her after all. She was the only woman responsible for the clean sheets
and extra coffee packets besides my kettle in the room every day. My
housekeeper.

“Ready to check out ma’am?” she asked
in her kind tone.

“Yes” I replied.

“Please don’t lock the safe in the
cupboard. Keep it as it is” she requested.

“I haven’t locked anything” I said,
mentally preparing myself to not break down in front of her.

“Have a happy journey” she smiled and
went away.

I sighed. It was time. I got out of the
room and glanced one last time at each and every thing. Trying to keep my face
straight, I closed the door and kept the room keys safely in my purse. As I
started to walk away, my mobile started vibrating. I was slightly cheered by
hearing my father’s voice. He had reached the campus!I was going to see him after seven long
months. That thought made my legs move faster. I started cheering a bit.
Seriously, what the hell was happening? Few minutes before, I was sad and
unhappy and now after hearing my dad’s voice, I was feeling like an excited kid
who has just received her Christmas presents.

I reached the facilities room and entered
the building with my heart beating fast. I was literally breathless. I went at
the main desk and deposited the keys and the membership card. I was told to
collect the black tag from another desk. I turned and started walking at the
opposite desk. Whew! Finally, I thought to myself. The entire race for the first half
of this year had been for the black tag- to be an employee. Right then, I was wearing a white tag which meant that I was still a trainee.

Oh yes, I was dying to get a black tag
as soon as possible. But that’s not easy to get at Infosys. Before joining the
company, I knew the training was going to be tough. Still I decided to go
ahead. When the training started, my whole life shifted to just staring at the
slides. Being in GEC from 9am-11pm became a regular thing. I bet that I haven’t
studied this much even for my board exams. Weekends were no different from
weekdays. The whole schedule centered around two things only-study the sildes
and drink coffee. Trust me when I say this, I haven’t eaten food in food courts
as much as I have drank coffee in GEC. Some say it was like a soup to
them. But to me it was like a god given gift to help in keeping my eyes open
for the next couple of hours. I stopped wearing my watch (which never happened
before). What’s the point anyway when you can always view the system time? Throughout
Generic-Intermediate-Stream-Extended training, apart from learning a lot of
Java, RDBMS, UNIX and Finacle, I learned to carry my tumbler always with me, no
matter what. It’s the most demanding thing in the class during training!

I
couldn’t believe it when I saw my white tag getting replaced by the black one. The
man at the desk smiled and enquired about my posting. But I couldn’t
concentrate much on him. I was curiously examining the black tag, the one which
every infoscion craves for. It was long
and looked new, clearly contrasting the previous white one. He cleared his throat and I looked up. He pointed
at the register where I had to sign. I completed the formalities and he nodded.
That was my cue to go. Finally, it was over. Incredibly, I had finished the training
successfully.

But there was one more thing left to
do. Something silly and stupid. I went back to GEC covering the black tag with
the stole around my neck. It was well hidden. I walked confidently away from
the security towards the swipe machines. A woman bodyguard called out and asked
me to come towards her for the bag checking. All trainees should get their bags
checked if they are carrying any. But never the black tags infoscions. Never.

I pushed away my stole and proudly
displayed her the black tag, waving it in the air exactly how Dhoni would have
waved the world cup. The guard smiled and allowed me to go. Laughing at
particularly nothing, I half jogged and half ran towards the exit-Gate No.2. My
luggage had already arrived before me. I kept them in a trolley and pushed it towards
the main gates. When I reached outside, instinctively I turned towards the
benches and saw my father, the first person who had supported and encouraged me
to be where I am today. At that moment, I felt proud to be his daughter. And
proud to be an Infoscion.

4 comments:

That was amazing depiction. I loved it the moment you wrote about the bell sounding louder in the vacated room. I have experienced it so often. And the pain. Your travails and aspirations to get the 'black tag' and the final moments when you hold the spanking new pride, the way you played a little trick on the guard woman was also tickling. You can write well. Never quit writing. it is a tag that God give to so few.

nicely written, will bind people to their chair till they finish it. But I am telling you lots of people may get scared off by Infy training thing!! But you deserve some kudos .... :) :)Yet again highly impressed by your writing :)